I was recently talking to a friend of mine who I coached/worked with with the New York Red Bulls. While I have moved to Kansas City, he remains on the east coast and we were talking about a situation a club he coached found itself in. With tryout season underway, a player on the “A” team was about to be dropped to a lower team after the evaluations. Outrage ensued because after all, as the parents explained, they had spent thousands of dollars on their child’s development. They had spent money and naturally they expected a product. If only they had known that Messi didn’t become the best because of three hours of practice a week and orange slices on the weekends. All too often I see the misunderstanding from all involved within youth soccer that money is somehow linked to development. This happens in a couple different ways, although the most popular ones are: 1) The more expensive a club costs the better its training must be, and 2) If I spend thousands of dollars a year on soccer, I expect my child to develop according to the amount of money spent. I am buying my child “Superstar Development!” Let’s look at the first issue and then tackle the second. Remember, the more you know, the more you educate, the better we will be equipped to combating some of these ideas and making this a better environment for all. “The more expensive a club costs, the better it must be.” Youth sports, and youth soccer especially, in the United States is a business to the tune of over 5 billion dollars annually. It’s important to understand that in any multi-billion dollar industry, there are people who know how to make a profit, regardless of the quality of their product.The pay to play model is also one in which tens of thousands of children are being priced out of simply because costs are skyrocketing for supposed “top development.”